St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-08

The next afternoon was going down
to Staten Island to a reception, and as |
had but two or three days in town, and
was extremely busy and knew that it
would be so far down town unless ]
Went on purpose, | took a carriage to
the ferry, and on the way down stopped
at the Adams Express company.
stated to the first man, who stood
near the doorway and who seemed to !,
belong to the place, that | had come to
ma u missing bundle, and asked of
whom should inquire. He waved me
aside with quite magnificent gesture,
and said:
You'd better ask one of the clerks"
felt crushed, but tried not to look so,
ana dust, seeing i'll the far distance two
western windows that seemed to catch
some dim radiance from some source far
above. went on,and presently Il young
man met me who appeared to look as
tonlShed, but he was very polite. |
said, Il came to inquire about a missing
bundle, and began my story. He said
IN the middle of my first sentence:
viii you kindly come this way to the
otfce?''
So followed him.
When | first entered the doors |
coultn' I see Il man, but suddenly they
seemed to grow up everywhere. Every
huge box seemed to have head behind
1t, and they all had eyes, and they were
all looking at me. l felt very awkward
and out OF place, and for the time being
L wished | had never been born.
At last we reached small glass in
closed space, when my guide opened
pew kind of Il door and said. "A lady
about lost bundle" and | found my
self standing before man that terrified
me So-and l am not timid woman
that haven't an idea what he looked
like, except that he seemed inoffenSive
III every way. He offered me a chair
and L sat down and tried to make myself
believe that this man was not really the
whole Adams Express company: for this
was the reason he seemed so terrifying.
After awhile | was able to tell him
pretty clearly about my lost bundle.
| accurately described its appearance
and size, and all | knew about it, and
also all | did not know about its con-
tents. He listened very politely and then
he gave me-a blow that seemed to be en-
tirely out of rule. He said:
'liave you inquired for it at the office
of the Hotel Brunswick?'
Moo l said doubtfully, "but sup
pose Mr.. Haven did"
All, yes" he said. ''Well. have YOU
been to the -Twenty-third street office?
1t would naturally have gone there"
No" | said, Il haven't inquired any
where but here. Mr.. Haven told me to
come here"
Well"
He didn't say much more, neither
did |. He took my name and address,
and then he opened the door for me. and
said he would do all in his power to have
the bundle found, and that | should
hear from him. And as | walked out it
al In hot 1 L
about finding the bundle by inquiring at
headquarters.
The next day | went to the Hotel
Brunswick and a clerk came up to the |
parlor and saw me. By that time | was
rather tired of telling my story, and so
| went over it as rapidly as possible. |
The clerk listened as politely as the |
august representative of the express |
company had done, and when | had fin |
iShed he assured me that the matter |
should at once be attended to, and that |
the bundle would certainly befound lin
the near future" l was very much i'm |
pressed by that phrase, as he probably |
meant [ should be. He said:
1T stands to reason that it must be |
found. We never send away bundle |
without taking a receipt
SO saying, he politely ended, and got |
myself out on the sidewalk, and felt at |
first pretty sure of my bundle; but, on |
second thought, felt somewhat doubt
full. They all assured me it would be |
found, and yet-well, l began to feel |
very doubtful.
The next day | went home. / waited |
a month for an answer to my letter to |
my sister. But when l did receive
letter from her it was not an answer to
mine, which had evidently not reached |
her, as she only spoke of the receipt of |
a letter of date some two weeks pre-
viOuS.
TO make the story short. L may say
that | never got an answer to my letter |
to my sister. She was travelling about, |
and her letters were short and only full |
of daily experiences. But it seemed eX-
ceedingly strange to me that she made |
no alluSiOn at all to the letter about the
bundle. In each of my letters to her | |
spoke of my letter and asked her to tell |
me about it: what was in it? was she |
sure of her address, etc. e. =.
Finally, feeling sure that tllatsparticu
lar and most important letter had been |
lost, l wrote a duplicate of it, as nearly |
as | could, and sent it off. In the mean |
time | had received two letters, one
from the Adams Express company, in |
Which they said that they could find no |
trace of the lost bundle, and also that |
no receipt could be found for it either |
in their books OF in the Hotel Bruins |
wick.
received also-a letter from the Hotel
Brunswick.
1t was of the same tenor; they had no
record; they regretted the loss and an
noyance to me and Mr.. Haven. They |
stated explicitly that no suspicion could |
be attached to the clerk who had left |
them, and regretted that they were UNI
able to give me his address.
The bundle was no longer ''miSSing."
1t was
felt resigned. l consoled myself. l |
even became glad. | reflected that if it |
had been stockings of rare and pecu-
liar quality-and certainly my sister,
knowing my faStidiouS taste, wouldn't |
have sent me common silk stockings
they might have been the cause of pro-
ducing all sorts of disasters.
For instance, if they had been silk |
stockings of uncommon beauty, L should |
have no shoes to match. | might have |
found something at O'Neil's to match;
or if not to match, to do tolerably. And |
good gracious! there would have been a
pretty bill to pay. Then my dress would |
have had to be of a simple elegance"
We all know what that means. ''Sim-
pie elegance" in the market. TO dress |
i'll simple elegance and sit in an ordi-
nary parlor would have been impossible.
TO make over my parlOr and fit my
clothes would have been financial
ruin to my husband and moral ruin to
my boys.
But / did want to know what was in
the bundle, and / did want it found, be-
cause it might have been something
else that wasn't moral and financial
ruin.
The months wore away, and it was
six months since l had first heard of my
bundle. 1t was December, and my sis
tor 1nnlli1nn lhn1na nnL nll l,nH